Black Beauty by Anna ; Introduction By Gail Carson Levine Sewell

This book is almost a collection of short stories, as each chapter relates a different episode in the life of Black Beauty and other horses who he meets along the way. A good book to choose if, perhaps, you prefer to read in short sessions.
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Anna Sewell, March 30, 1820 - April 25, 1878 Anna Sewell was on March 30, 1820 in Yarmouth, Norfolk, England. She was raised a Quaker by her father a bank manager and her mother, a children's novelist. At the age of fourteen, Sewell hurt her knee during a fall and the injury never healed right. Even though she could not walk well, she could still ride horses and drive a horse drawn buggy. It was this form of freedom that sparked her concern for the welfare of horses. She wrote "Black Beauty" when she was in her fifties, but died a year after it was published in 1877. While she never earned much from the book while she was alive, after her death, the novel snowballed into a something extraordinary. The book was about the abuses horses sustained in their lifetimes, but was told from the unique viewpoint of the horse. Even though the book was intended for children, it impacted all generations and caused everyone who read it to take a look at the inhumane treatment horses received. In the one hundred plus years since "Black Beauty" had been published, over 30 million copies have been printed. At least eight motion pictures have been made based on the novel and it is a well known children's classic. Anna Sewell died on April 25, 1878 in Old Catton, Norfolk.

Common Sense Media

Reviewed by Katherine Olney
on
Apr 09 2008

Heartrending, beautiful, and educational, this morality tale and animal autobiography gives a majestic horse a voice that is believable and unsentimental...It's also a book of sensuous writing that can take the reader from the beauty of a spring country evening to the coal-coated world of Victorian London.

Book Review Circle

Reviewed by Sayan Mukherjee
on
Sep 19 2015

The book moves at a relaxing pace and is extremely absorbing without being dull or loose. Plot points are tight and the other characters, whether human or horses, are complex and completely fleshed out thus adding to the well crafted feel of the book...A treat for readers of all ages.

Parental Book Reviews

on
Oct 18 2015

The awesome book called Black Beauty is more intriguing than the anatomy of a horse!The book is about a young colt’s journey through life in a human world.Black Beauty’s name even changes throughout the story...This is a great story that will warm the hearts of many.Enjoy

Eagle

Reviewed by Russ Allbery
on
Jun 11 2011

Black Beauty is the story of the working life of a horse, starting as a well-bred horse for the gentry...Everything is a little too easy and gentle at the start of the book, and I think it gets better towards the end of the book where there's more balance and more risk. But I love all of it, and enjoyed re-reading it.

This book is almost a collection of short stories, as each chapter relates a different episode in the life of Black Beauty and other horses who he meets along the way. A good book to choose if, perhaps, you prefer to read in short sessions.